Pachal plays role of hero in Raiders OT comeback win

Blades fall 4-3 at home to archrivals in back-and-forth clash

Brayden Pachal, left, celebrates scoring the OT winner for the Raiders.

    Captain Brayden Pachal took his turn to be a hero for the Prince Albert Raiders.

    On Thursday night before 4,631 spectators at the SaskTel Centre, the Raiders entered the third period trailing the host Saskatoon Blades 3-2. At the 6:28 mark of the third period, Pachal, who is a defenceman, drove to the Saskatoon net and fired home the equalizer for the Raiders to tie things up at 3-3 and ultimately force overtime.

    Just 33 seconds into overtime, Pachel gathered the rebound from a shot taken by Raiders star left-winger Cole Fonstad at the left side of the Saskatoon goal and slid home the winning tally between the legs of Blades netminder Nolan Maier to give the Raiders a 4-3 victory. Thursday’s WHL regular season clash was also the first contest for both sides since returning from their respective Christmas breaks.

Brayden Pachal scored twice for the Raiders on Thursday.

    “They are our biggest rival, and we get up for these games every time,” said Pachal. “It was a huge game to get the first one after Christmas.

    “Fonny (Fonstad) made a great play cutting to the middle there, and he got the shot off. I was lucky enough to slide the rebound home.”

    The win allowed the Raiders to improve their WHL leading regular season record to 32-2-0-1. The Raiders, who are rated first in the CHL’s Top 10 rankings, have had different players step up to be difference makers in building their impressive record game after game.

    They kept piling up the wins despite missing rookie 17-year-old import centre Aliaksei Protas and 19-year-old import defenceman Sergei Sapego for a short time as they represented Belarus at the world junior division 1, group A tournament that wrapped up Dec. 15 in Fussen, Germany.

    Since December 10, the Raiders have been without star right-winger Brett Leason and star netminder Ian Scott, who first departed for the main selection camp for Canada’s world junior team and are now playing for Canada at world juniors currently taking place in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.

Brayden Pachal, right, celebrates this third period equalizer for the Raiders.

    Pachal was pleased he was able to cash in on his opportunities to deliver another victory to the Raiders.

    “It was good,” said Pachal. “I think everyone has stepped up lately.

    “We’ve been missing guys before the break. Now, we are missing Scotty (Ian Scott) and (Brett) Leason. Obviously, they are two of our best players.

    “All the young guys and everyone that has been getting their opportunities have stepped up so far.”

    The Blades, who saw their record move to 21-10-5, opened the scoring on Thursday, when rookie left-winger Kyle Crnkovic wired home a power-play goal at the 12:59 mark of the first period.

Raiders C Noah Gregor, left, and Blades RW Josh Paterson fight for the puck.

    Just 38 seconds later, the Raiders tied things up at 1-1, when star overage centre Noah Gregor wired home his 20^th goal of the season to the top right corner of the Saskatoon goal.
    The opening 20 minutes included a quick fight between Blades defenceman Nolan Kneen and Raiders centre Carson Miller.

    At the 2:52 mark of the second, Gregor potted his second goal of the night converting a back door feed from linemate Ozzy Wiesblatt to give the Raiders a 2-1 advantage.

    Eric Florchuk netted the equalizer for the Blades to force a 2-2 tie at the 4:28 mark of the second.

    Saskatoon jumped ahead 3-2 scoring a five-on-three power play, when overage right-winger Max Gerlach wired home his 20^th goal of the season from the front of the Prince Albert net completing a tick-tack-toe passing play from offensive defenceman Dawson Davidson and left-winger Gary Haden.

Kyle Crnkovic scored on the power play for the Blades.

    That set the stage for Pachal to deliver in his two critical moments to give the Raiders the comeback win.

    Going into Thursday’s game, the Blades had connected on 27-of-152 power-play chances for a 17.8 per cent success rate to rank 16^th in the WHL. 
    Blades head coach Mitch Love was pleased his team cashed in on two-of-five power-play chances on Thursday and successfully killed off the Raiders one power-play opportunity, which after Prince Albert tied things up at 3-3.

    While the Blades bench boss would have liked to have pulled out the win, he took solace in his club’s success on the power play and penalty kill.

    “We had a little more urgency, a little quicker puck movement, more of a shot first mentality there tonight, and they got rewarded for it,” said Love. “Our penalty kill held us in the game tonight.

Raiders LW Parker Kelly (#27) shields Blades C Kirby Dach from the puck.

    “Even though we only had one kill, it was a big kill in the third period, and that is what you are looking for. We just ended up on the wrong side (of the scoreboard).”

    Maier turned away 27 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades. 
    Donovan Buskey stopped 23 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders.

    The two teams go at it again on Friday in Prince Albert at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre. 
    The Raiders are a perfect 16-0 at home this season.

Brayden Pachal (#8) bats home the OT winner for the Raiders.

    Love said his side faces a big challenge in Friday’s rematch.

    “I expect their team to be probably better than they were tonight even,” said Love. “I would attest that their staff probably didn’t think that was their best game.

    “I didn’t think it was our best game. Them playing in front of a soldout crowd in their own building I am sure they will have a little bit of extra life and energy there. There will be better execution on both sides.

    “We’re going to have to go in there and play our best game of the season, if we are going to want to try and beat a team that hasn’t lost on home ice.”

    The Raiders have won three out of the four head-to-head games between the two sides this season.
    Pachal believes Friday’s clash between the two rivals will be a contest the fans won’t want to miss.

    “It is going to be a good game again,” said Pachal. “I expect nothing less.

The Raiders celebrate their OT win on Thursday night.

    “We battle hard against each other. We don’t like each other, so it will be a great game I am sure.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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